If you’re considering selling for sale by owner, you’re not alone as I can’t think of anyone who would be happy paying a broker $10,000+, even if they are a friend of yours.
I had a seller call me to discuss marketing for their home as they were on the market For Sale By Owner and she told me she had received at least 25 calls from different agents in attempts to list her home. They called and texted her cell phone, her daughters cell, and they were quite relentless, one agent even showed up at her door at 9am on a Saturday morning. I can’t believe how desperate some agents have become. If someone did that to me, I would have called the police. I think there is a fine line between being aggressive and being a pest, I am telling you this because if someone tells you that I engage in this behavior be rest assured its fake news.
I asked her what kind of marketing they were aiming to do. The vast majority had told her “don’t worry about that”; they would come up with a custom marketing program for her home. I am going out on a limb here but, I would guess it’s as custom-made as a vanilla ice cream cone and a word to the wise, if an agent tells you that they do not have a marketing plan at all then you better run as fast as your legs can allow
Selling For Sale by Owner
Rule number one- Have flyers that can be picked up off the yard sign. This is your best way to engage with a buyer directly. Tell them everything about your home and what you like best about the home and the street. Sell! Sell!! Sell!!! Send them to your website or video, better to have both though.
Next, statistically speaking, the buyer will have an agent with them because according to the last study I read, about 88% of home buyers use an agent or have access to one. So when an agent calls you, tell them that they can bring a buyer through (no preview without the buyer), you are willing to pay them something, but Do Not Agree on a certain percentage over the phone. When they come over, stay out of the way and when they finish touring the property tell them in front of the buyer that you are willing to pay 2% if the buyer buys the home. The buyers are in charge and if they love the home they will buy it, it’s quite unfortunate that the vast majority of agents are not sales people but rather ordinary tour guides.
Next, call around to title companies and negotiate for the best seller fees you can get and then include in your flyer the title company you have chosen to use. At the end of every tour, tell the agent what title company you want to use and if they want to use a different one then let them know that their company will bear the fees. This is crucial in order for you to avoid getting hooked with an expensive title company.
Last and most important, do not accept a contract without A Preapproval certificate for the purchase, Do not accept ”a Prequalification” and make sure you call the lender to check on the financing before signing the contract.
